Creating Echo Chambers for Issues
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 10:50AM
Terms such as "lobbying," "advocacy" and "public affairs" are used commonly – and not always flatteringly – when discussing influencing Congress. NPR's Morning Edition ran a piece this week that gave a glimpse of what those terms mean on the ground.
"The art of public affairs," says Anne Womack-Kolton, a vice president of communications for the American Chemistry Council, "is telling your story as many ways as you can to create that echo chamber around whatever target you are trying to reach."
The NPR story centered on the congressional debate over restricting use of bisphenol A (BPA) in manufacturing hard-plastic drinking bottles, including baby bottles. Chemical companies insist BPA is safe, while consumer activists say it interferes with reproductive development in animals and has been linked to heart disease and diabetes in humans.
"I'll get an email or a phone call from either side saying, 'Hey, did you see this new Canadian study that says BPA is safe?' or 'Hey, did you see this Australian study on the health effects of BPA,'" explains Lyndsey Layton of The Washington Post. "So over the transom there's scientific data pouring in from either side and they're trying to use it to their advantage."
That's an example of advocacy – using credible, or at least seemingly credible, third-party sources to hammer home your side's argument.
Keep in mind, public affairs and advocacy campaigns aren't direct lobbying. That's the role of men and women who troop around Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. to meet with Members of Congress and their staffs to lobby a point of view, usually in the form of asking for a "yes" or "no" vote on a bill.